The Art of Creating Superfans with Brittany Hodak, #226

With research showing that it can cost 5x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, learning the art of customer retention should be the top priority of every business.

Add that to the statistic that even a 5% increase in customer retention can yield a 75% increase in profitability – there's no wonder the power that creating superfans can have on B2B and B2C companies.

But, the key is to understand how exactly to transform a hesitant prospect, into a confident buyer, and ultimately into a lifelong customer. No one understands this process better than our guest, Brittan Hodak – the mastermind behind the best-selling book, Creating Superfans: How to Turn Your Customers into Lifelong Advocates.

If you've been struggling with keeping your customers engaged, perfecting your referral strategy, or increasing your customer lifetime value, then this is the episode of the Modern Selling Podcast to download!

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker who has delivered keynotes across the globe to organizations including American Express and the United Nations. She has worked with some of the world's biggest brands and entertainers, including Walmart, Disney, Katy Perry, and Dolly Parton. She founded and scaled an entertainment startup to eight figures before exiting and is the former Chief Experience Officer of Experience.com.

In this episode, we dive into all things customer engagement and retention to give you a true competitive advantage on how to give your customers such an incredible experience that they become superfans – for life!

How should B2B and B2C companies engage with their customers?

I wanted to jump right into the meat of Brittany's book and understand, from her perspective, what she believes is the "secret sauce" to creating superfans.

She shares, "I think one of the biggest mistakes companies are making right now is that everyone is siloed. In other words, we have 'over-compartmentalized' employees away from customers. So much so that many times employees are losing track of how their work affects customer retention. I say that it does not matter what department you're in – everybody is in the customer experience department."

Brittany also outlines a powerful "Supermodel Framework" that companies should be following to ensure that their customer experience is building superfans. The framework breaks down as follows:

S – Story – It's important to make it clear to even prospects what your true superpower is and why they should be interested.

U – Understand – Sales teams must fully understand their customers' stories and find that intersectionality between what their customers are looking for and what they can provide.

P – Personalization – Prospects and customers alike now expect that all communications and interactions are personalized to their preferences and needs.

E – Exceed Expectations – In a world where your customers could easily go to a competitor, you have to be in the business of meeting and exceeding their expectations every time.

R – Repeat – Creating Superfans requires consistency in your customer experience. What leads them to stay is the experience and reputation you build.

Listen into the full conversation to hear what Brittany says is the best way to nail the SUPER Framework and why she believes it will revolutionize how we approach our customers.

How do you understand what your customers need?

I was curious to know what Brittany recommends sales teams do to truly connect with prospects and customers in new ways by leveraging "stories."

She walks through a powerful framework – in her famous acronym style – that sheds a lot of light on the right way to engage and resonate with your ideal audience(s) in new ways.

S – Struggles – Know what pain points your potential customers have and how you can speak to them in your outreach.

T – Transformation – Getting clear on the transformation that your product/service can provide makes it easier for the prospect to envision working with you.

O – Options – Understanding that every prospect and customer has multiple options is key so that you can always lead with value and become a trusted source of information for them.

R – Reservations – Customers (even when they buy from you) may have reservations about making a repeat purchase. Be sure to make every touch point memorable and address any objections or concerns they have upfront.

Y – YOU – Think about if what you offer is the best solution for your customer. All too often salespeople focus on the sale with no regard to if their solution can actually solve their customer's problem. If you're not best suited to help your customer achieve the transformation they're seeking – then be okay with communicating that!

Join the full conversation to hear Brittany's story gems and how sales leaders should be training their teams to tell the right stories at the right times to convert prospects into repeat customers.

What's the best way to ask for referrals?

Part of Brittany's book, Creating Superfans, dives deeply into referrals – when to ask, how to ask, and also how to reward your customers for sharing your business with their network.

What she explains was spot on and similar to what we do, here at Vengreso, "People ask me all the time 'how can I get more referrals?' And, something that I've found to be true over the years is, if somebody has never worked in sales, referring business to you is not top of mind. So, many times, unless you ask, you won't get the referral."

This can seem very simple to just ask for the referral, however, I've seen it throughout my sales career – so many companies never actually ask their customers for referrals.

Brittany details a practical system to follow to not only get referrals but to acknowledge and thank your superfans for giving them. I find her work absolutely fascinating and her quick tips to thank customers is why the people she works with get such incredible results!

Jump into this episode and pay particular attention at the 37-minute mark to get her gems on referrals.

This episode of the Modern Selling Podcast is brought to you by Korn Ferry. Korn Ferry transforms sales teams using their world-class Miller Heiman, methodology, employee assessments, benchmarking and talent advisor capabilities to increase win rates and quota attainment. Korn Ferry offers Korn Ferry Sell, a sales effectiveness app available in App Exchange and app source that helps your sales team develop and replicate powerful sales strategies that help sellers win more deals and crush their quotas. Learn more at kornferry.com/saleseffectiveness.